Closure for receptacles



Aug. 12 1924. 1,504,698

A. L. MEROLLE CLOSURE FOR RECEPTACLES Filed Oct. 21. 1920 awwmto'o Patented Aug. 12, 1924.

UNITED srmas PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUSTUS L. MEROLLE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO EMPIRE METAL CAP CO. INC., BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CLOSURE FOR RECEP'TAGLES.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS L. MEROLLE,

' a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Brooklyn, in the county .of Kings, city and State of New York, have .invented certain new and useful Improvements in Closures for Receptacles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to receptacle closures comprising a portion to cover or enclose the open end of a receptacle and having a dependent flange portion to embrace and frictionally engage the side of the receptacle to releasably retain the closure to the open end of the receptacle, and an object of the invention is to provide a closure 1n which the required strength of frictional engagement against the receptacle inay be obtained without the necessity of using especially thick or stifl sheet metal in the manufacture of the closure, that is, one in the manufacture of which sheet metal may be employed which is thinner and cheaper than the sheet metal heretofore employed in the manufacture of this general type of closure but which will nevertheless have its flange portion possessed of the same, or even more gripping power than heretofore, and therefore, to enable this result to be obtained while at the same time enabling a closure of a given size to provide an eflicient seal for receptacles considerably varying in size.

A more detailed object is to provide a closure of the type indicated in which the flange thereof is formed at both its upper and lower edge with means serving to reinforce the flange in resisting the expansive movement incident to application of the closure onto a receptacle, and to thereby induce all such expansion to occur in the specifically prepared intermediate portion of the flange. 1

Other objects and aims ofthe invention, more or less specific than those referred to above, will be .in part obvious and in part pointed out in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts and applications of principles, constituting the invention, and the scope of protection contemplated will be indicated in the appended claims.

in the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely a pre ferred form of embodiment of the inven tion:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a receptacle showing my improved closure applied thereto.

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional detailed view in perspective to show the structure of the closure and the manner of applying the same to the open end of a receptacle, with a sealing material interposed between the closure and the receptacle.

Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the closure looking at the inside thereof with the portion of a sealing material broken away; and j Figure 4 is a view similar to that seen in Figure 2 and illustrating a different form of sealing material.

In carrying out the invention the closure may be made of various sizes to adapt the same for the open end of receptacles of different sizes. In the drawing '1 have shown a closure embodying my invention applied to the opened end of what is commonly termed as a f jelly glass in the form of a tumbler 5.

The closure comprises a disk or cover portion 6 to cover the open end of the receptacle, said disk portion having a dependent annular flange portion 7 which is of concavo convex form in cross section with the convex surface on the interior or curved inwardly from the juncture of the flange with the disk or cover portion to the free edge, as clearly shown in Figure 2, with a continuous wire or bead edge formed by rolling the material at the edge of the flange outwardly, as shown at 8. p

The disk or cover portion 6 at the juncture thereof with the flange portion has an annular upwardly extending recessed portion 9 to engage over the upper annular ed e of This the receptacle, as shown in Figure 2 annular recess is formed by pressing an annular shoulder or rib into the cover por-- tion at a predetermined point within the juncture of the end and flange portions, as shown at 10, the location of this shoulder 10, depending upon'the thickness of the wall of the receptacle at the opening therein.'- The mate-rial of the cover ortion within said shoulder 10 is preferab y at a somewhat .lower planethan the outer portion 9 to engage within the receptacle. The internal diameter of the flange portion 7 is preferably less than the outer diameter of the open end of the receptacle to which the closure is applied, and in applying the closure to the receptacle pressure is applied to force the same upon the receptacle when the shoulder 10 will engage the inner edge of the wall of the receptacle as shown in Figure 2. The expansion of the flange during its application onto the receptacle will generate a powerful crushing strain of the flange against the outer surface of the receptacle to frictionally although releasable, retain the closure upon the receptacle,-and the shoulder 10 will serve to reinforce the receptacle in withstanding the great pressure of the flange.

The flange portion is provided with circumferentially disposed corrugations 11 extending transversely of the concavo convex portion and constructed and arranged so that they will gradually increase in depth from the head 8 and the juncture of the flange with the cover-portion and be of greatest depth at the middle portion of the flange. These corrrugations add great strength to the flange and yet provide for a certain and desirable amount of circumferential expansion of the intermediate portion of the flange. By reason of their vertical disposition and their form and their length they serve to transmit the bursting strains both upwardly and downwardly directly from the point of en agement with the receptacle, that is; u wardly to the junclure of the flange an cover, and downwardly to the wire edg. Both of these portions of the flange being relatively nonyielding they operate to conservein the intermediate corrugated portion an excessivel powerful pressure to su ply the needed frictional engagement wit the receptacle. It

is to be particularly noted in this connection that the wire edge at the bottom of the flange has a cooperative functional value which is of great importance as a reinforcing element since it gives to the lower edge of the flange substantially the same degree of rigidity against expansion and deformation as is given'to the upper edge by its integral connection with the cover portion of the closure, and thereby necessitates that substantially all of the expansion taking place in the flange during application onto a receptacle occurs in the intermediate portion of the flange, greatest at the median line and in diminishing degree toward the upper and lower edges.

Where the intermediate portionv of the flange is concavo-convexed as indicated this expansion of the intermediate portion may result in a slight movement of the upper and lower edges away from each other, which is immaterial, but it is desired that there shall be substantially no expansion movement of either the upper or lower edge of the flange, and this is an essential feature of the present invention since by means thereof .it becomes possible to use in the manufacture of these closures a grade of metal thinner and cheaper than heretofore and yet secure the desired frictional grippii ig power in the flange. I

o prevent material in a receptacle from becoming deteriorated through chemical action of the same upon the inner surface of the closure a sheet of suitable material, such as parafline paper 12 is interposed, this material being of disk or circular shape and being of a size to engage within the recessed portion 9 whereby as the closure is applied to the receptacle the closure will serve to firmly clamp said sheet in position, and the portion of the sheet en agin between the recessed portion 9 and tEe en of the receptacleservin as a seal for the closure.

To provide a more positive seal between the closure and receptacle an annular band of sealing material 13 such as rubber or a composition of comminuted cork may be interposed .between the edge of the opening of the receptacle and the r 9;; ortion 9 of the closure as clearly shown in Figure 4.-

Having thus described my invention I claim:

1. A sheet metal receptacle closure comprising a cover portion and a continuous integral annular flan e portion, the cover portion being adapted to rest flat upon the upper annular edge surface of a receptacle and the flange rtion being adapted to telescope over th adjacent substantially straight outer surface of the rece tacle, the flange ortion being resilient and of a size re ative to that of the receptac e requirin it to be expended by forced move ment ownwardly over the receptacle whereby it will exert throughout its circumference a crushing strain a lnst the receptacle and thereby frictional y retain the closure against displacement, and the cover portion havin a downwardly (projecting annular shoul er therein arrange to roject into the receptacle in engagement wit the inner surface of the receptacle to thereby reinforce the receptacle in withstanding the continued pressure of the flange;

2. A sheet metal receptacle closure, comprising a cover portion and a flan e portion, the cover portion being adapte to rest flat upon the up er annular edge surface of a receptacle an the flange portion being ada ted to telescope over the outer annular sur ace of the rece tacle, the flange portion being resilient an being of a size relative to that of the receptacle requiring it to be expanded by forced telescopic movement downwardly over the receptacle whereby it will exert throughout its circumference a crushing strain against the receptacle and edge to adjacent said wire edge and which taper from greater to less depth gradually toward said edges, and serve thereby to transmit bursting strains from the region of 15 greatest depth in opposite directions directly to said edges.

Signed at the city of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 27th day of Sept, 1920.

AUGUSTUS L. MEROLLE. 

